Sorry for the late posting one and all. I'm still drowsy after a little bit of much needed time off. In the picture above I'm barreling back to Brooklyn in a cab in the early hours of New Years Day, and, after the year I've had, rest assured that in this shot I'm punch drunk, love drunk and real drunk. I also have no idea why there is a gold sticker on my face. Anyway, bloody hell does 2016 ever feel like a big beautiful exhale after a year of some wonders but also much tight chested-ness and angst. Let there be no doubt that 2015 was a weird one- not particularly sweet for me, all in all, with hurdles, stresses and ruts I have yet to become unstuck from. And didn't the news cycle just feel RELENTLESS in its horror? But I (and you) shall prevail, and as I told all and sundry during the month of December, I intend to slam the door on 2015 with the hearty gusto of a freshly liberated inmate, with all the associated defiance and will and excitement. Yes, into the verdant meadows of 2016 I shall go- a year in which I pledge to be more grounded, more compassionate, less dependent on dark chocolate in front of the telly and an earlier riser. These are my resolutions and I intend to honour them, one by one. More on that soon. Despite the tribulations though, there is one thing I did this year that was absolutely a good idea. On January 24th, 2015, I bought a domain name on a whim, figured out a bit of HTML and wrote my first TSWIL post, a round up of a cold January day. It ended, hopefully. with the words "We got this, okay?". And, yes, despite everything, I can honestly say I still got this. And that's because "this" has become The Street Where You Live, a passion project turned vocation that has led me to you, my amazing readers. Thank you for supporting me and my whims through this maiden year, the good, the bad, the ugly.

For this week I thought I'd put together a list of some of my favourite posts of 2015, a little year in review, if you like, before we get back to full programming next week (a new Street Where You Live and Thought Pharmacy among other things). Happy New Year, one and all. I'm grateful for what you bring to this little corner of the internet, and I celebrate you and all there is to come on these fresh new days. 2016, we're comin' for you xo

I'm Alexandra King-Lyles, a journalist and writer living on a tree-lined street in Park Slope, Brooklyn with my husband Isaac and two black cats. I moved to New York from London in 2009, thinking I would only stay for nine months. Seven years later, I'm still here. On The Street Where I Live, you'll find real talk about relationships, careers, interiors, books and fashion as well as snapshots and personal stories from a blissfully imperfect life. Welcome, I'm so glad you're here.